Etala Rajender in consideration for State BJP chief post

With organisational elections for the positions of both the national and State president due in July, the BJP leadership has reportedly decided to relieve Kishan Reddy from the responsibility and hand over the reins of the State BJP unit to Rajender.

Hyderabad: Following BJP State president G Kishan Reddy securing a berth in the union Cabinet, the BJP leadership is reportedly planning to hand over the responsibility of the party’s State chief post to Malkajgiri MP Etala Rajender.

With organisational elections for the positions of both the national and State president due in July, the BJP leadership has reportedly decided to relieve Kishan Reddy from the responsibility and hand over the reins of the State BJP unit to Rajender.

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The BJP MP was expecting a berth in the union Cabinet and since he was not given a space in the cabinet, the party leadership is said to be now considering his candidature for the post of the party’s State president.

Even in the State BJP circles, leaders are discussing the issue and a few of them have confirmed that the party leadership has made up its mind to hand over the reins of the party in Telangana to Rajender. Rajender, who joined the BJP after his expulsion from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and subsequently won a by-poll in Huzurabad in November 2021, has been rooting for a promotion within the party.

He was said to have played a vital role in Bandi Sanjay losing the BJP State president post.

Though he was expecting the party leadership to hand over the responsibility to him then, it favoured Kishan Reddy, as it feared that the party functionaries may not accept Rajender.

In order to mollify Rajender, he was made the Chairman of the joining committee, but he was not happy with the position as it was a decorative post with no real powers.

Since Rajender won the Malkajgiri seat with a margin of over 3 lakh votes, thus making up for the double constituency loss during the Assembly elections, the party is now considering his candidature to lead the party in Telangana. eom